Since I'm going to leave in Korea for quite a long period of time and I'm currently doing nothing, I'm preparing myself for what I have to go through while living in Korea. So what's important? First, buying basic necessities. Second, taking public transportation. Obviously, I can't live without basic necessities and I'll die out of boredom if I can't go anywhere. So, yeah. In this post I'm going to talk about those things.
Basic Necessities
Food
What basic necessity is the most important? YAS, IT'S FOOD... I haven't really explore all the food available in Korea but I think I have a good picture about it. I have tried several kinds of food, as you can see in my previous post. In my opinion, food in Korea is not that expensive. I'll try to make a list of food I've bought and the prices below:
- A box of sweet and spicy chicken with ddeok: 12,000 won
- Jjajangmyeon + tangsuyuk (sweet and sour fried pork): 5,500 won
- A cup of chicken and ddeok (sold in Myeongdong): 5,000 won
- A roll of cheese kimbab (about 15cm long): 3,500 won
- A serving of ddeokbokki and 2 twigim (fried food): 3,000 won
- A hot bar (sold in Myeongdong): 3,000 won
- A hot bar (sold in Inheon Market): 2,000 won
The price of food varies according to where you buy it. Food sold in downtown/tourist areas may be more expensive than those sold in other areas. But don't let the prices stop you from buying the food! At least try them once in a while ;)
Hot Bar!!!
Inheon Market
Other times, you may get bored of the food sold in restaurants or street vendors. In that case you'll buy food from the supermarket right? Yeah I've been to two supermarkets. One is called GS25. GS25 not only manages supermarkets but it also opens minimarts. If you come to Korea, you'll most likely find GS25 everywhere you go. The other supermarket that I've visited is called One Mart. I don't think this market is as wide-spread as GS25, but it's definitely cheaper to shop in One Mart. Again, the prices of food sold in supermarkets vary. It's up to you what you want to buy. The cheaper ones or the more expensive ones. I'm currently training myself to live the college life so I opt for the cheaper ones mehehe. This time I'm not going to list the prices because my blog doesn't serve as a supermarket catalogue or something... I'm just going to write what I consider cheap and what I consider expensive.
Cheap:
- Vegetables
- Processed meat like sausages, ham and fish cakes
- Alcoholic drinks
- Canned food
- Instant food (like 3-minute curry, ramyeon etc.)
- *These things can be expensive as well*
Expensive:
- Fruits
- Fresh meat
- Kimchi...
I'd rather eat free kimchi given as a side dish in restaurants - Chips and biscuits (maybe it's not considered as expensive in Korea but those sold in my home country are way cheaper so I still think they're quite expensive)
Other Necessities
Besides food, you need clothes. Again, the price of clothes depends on where you buy them. Those sold in malls or outlets are very very expensive. On the other hand, those sold in markets or street vendors can be very very cheap. But remember, you also need to see the quality of those clothes no matter how cheap they are. Don't regret it when you see a hole in your pants a week after you bought them ;P
Now that we've discussed clothes, what else do we need? Right, shampoo and soap. I think they are ridiculously expensive... Well, compared to those sold in my home country. I see that the shampoo and soap sold in supermarkets come in big bottles so maybe that's why they seem expensive.
Lastly... badum badum!!! PADS. I really don't get why pads are freaking expensive here. Are they made of silk or something? Do they ensure that we're going to be comfortable all day long? No matter how good the pads are, nothing's going to change the fact that we. are. bleeding. So why make it expensive? We need it! Why is it so hard to live as a girl? As for tampons, I don't know... I'm not a tampon type of girl so I didn't check out the prices of tampons. But if you want to know, let me know and I'll try to check it.
Another Place Besides Supermarkets
...is Daiso! You must be familiar with Daiso, I'm sure... I was surprised to find that things sold in Daiso here don't have the same price. Isn't that what's unique about Daiso? Everything for the same price. Apparently that's not the case here.
But the most important thing about Daiso is still here. CHEAP! Yay cheap hahaha. You'll be more surprised to see that some things are as cheap as 1,000 won. WOW right? Sadly, I didn't need anything at that time so I couldn't enjoy the sensation of saving money while shopping...
Transportation
The first thing you need in order to be able to commute around is the T-money card. This card can be used to pay bus fare, subway fare and taxi fare... The T-money card looks like this
You can buy the card from the card vending machine located in every subway station. The process is very simple. You just need to touch the buttons on the machine and voila! your card is there (the machine provides English service so you don't have to worry). The card costs 3,000 and you can recharge it anytime you want with another machine that's also available in every subway station.
The card comes in a box and in the box there's some kind of a brochure but it's not really a brochure. There are lots of coupons that you can use when you visit tourist attractions. I haven't had the chance to use those coupons yet, unfortunately...
Keeping true to it's cute image, Korea made this inside the box...
I don't know. Maybe you're going to get bored waiting for the bus and sitting in the subway alone... Then you might want to open the box and play with the maze...
The transportation fare in Korea is very cheap. You can see why I said so in these websites:
As you can see in those websites, the fare is constant if you travel less than 10km. The plus side, it's cheaper if you go somewhere far. The negative side, it's expensive if you take the bus/subway only for a short period.
If you don't want to spend that much money for a few stops, then you can always walk to your destinations. Who knows you might find your new favorite restaurant, shops and scenery!
TIP: If you are a foreigner who wants to go to Korea, try not to think about how much things cost in your home country. Try not to compare the prices of those things because you'll spend a lot of time thinking whether you should buy it or not. If you're worried about things being expensive, then try to find the cheapest ones. Maybe it'll make you feel like you save a lot of money... teehee!
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